Dragon Moon
by Karshiva
Summary: A young Viking with a love for dragons chances upon a Night Fury, both are born with the same mark. As they bond, the young viking's home is destroyed. They travel from place to place, trying to find a place to call home. Then they find Berk, and everything changes.
1. Night Fury

Everything was burning, the fire a red inferno that spread its hungry fingers across the houses and the plains, swallowing everything it could in its ravenous march. Vikings everywhere were yelling out their battle cries as they wielded their axes, swords, shields and their nets. Catapults were launching huge rocks left and right, sometimes hitting their target, sometimes just hitting dirt or the water.

A large man with dark brown curly locks and piercing blue eyes wielded a large axe as he yelled out orders to the other vikings of the island, a woman with long flowing wavy hair and earthly brown eyes beside him wielding a bow, firing arrow after arrow at the large winged beasts above them.

"How long can we hope to hold the dragons off, Asger?" the woman asked, looking at him worriedly as she paused, her arrow drawn all the way back as she aimed for a Deadly Nadder.

"I don't know, Diana, daybreak is our only choice," he replied, hacking and slicing at a nearby dragon with his mighty sword, "where is our daughter?"

"I last saw her heading for the cliffs, I do hope Cheryl doesn't get into trouble, I know she's an eager lass for wanting to help fight the dragons, but she nearly got her legs broken the last time the dragons raided…"Diana muttered, firing the arrow at the Nadder, hitting bullseye as she fitted another arrow.

"Have faith in our daughter, she is a stubborn one, she won't die easily, she is a Dragonheart after all!" Asger bellowed as he hacked off another dragon's head, the blood coating his silver blade as he fought alongside his wife.

"I hope you're right…"

A young viking girl ran to the cliffs, sprinting as quick as a wolf, bounding over tree trunks and rocks, panting heavily with a net-launcher in her hands. Her dark brown curly locks that fell to her waist was flown back from the wind she caused as she ran, her dark brown eyes wide with excitement and thrill. She skidded to a stop at the edge, looking down at the flaming village of SkyCrest that was no doubt the cause of the dragons.

Her eyes moved to the large beasts, hefting up her net-launcher and aimed one of them at a Gronckle, the net spiraling out and trapping the dragon before launching another at a Nadder. She grinned slightly but then saddened.

 _'They're only trying to survive, it's not like they have a choice...'_ she thought before something swooped down at her and Cheryl yelped, tumbling with whatever that was into the forests, rolling into the branches and leaves before coming into a stop in a pile of rocks that collided with her back painfully.

"OW!" she yelled, wincing as she tried to get up, opening her eyes only to see that she was face to face with a...

Night Fury.

 _'The unholy spawn of lightning and death itself...'_ the teachings of the dragon trainers from the Book of Dragons echoing in her mind as she stared into the deep emerald green of its cat-like gaze.

This one had scales the color of midnight and a small white crescent moon on its right shoulder...It growled at her and bared its teeth. Cheryl stared at it for a long moment before slowly, reaching up to pull down her sleeve, revealing her own crescent moon mark on her right shoulder.

The Night Fury paused, its irises slowly dilating and a look of wonder and curiosity came across its reptilian face, eyes locking onto the mark before looking back up at her.

The clouds shifted and the moon shined its pallid glow onto both dragon and viking, clearing their vision.

The dragon was beautiful, the scales shined softly against the moonlight, the emerald jewels seemed to glitter brightly and it softened the fierce features of it a bit.

"Magnificent..."the brunette whispered, not even daring to take a breath lest she wanted to have her head blown into pieces. The Night Fury tilted her head and made a soft almost catlike purr and nudged her shoulder.

 **"You bear the same mark as I do..."** came the soft growls from the Night Fury, sounding feminine. The brunette blinked her dark brown eyes in surprise. She could...she could understand...her? She could understand the dragon?!

"I...I can hear you...I hear you speak..." she gasped out softly. The dragon tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes.

 **"If you truly understand, tell me your name, human."**

"My name...is Cheryl Luna Dragonheart..." Cheryl replied nervously, her gaze never leaving the dragon's. The Night Fury's ears flicked over to the viking trapped underneath her in slight awe.

 **"You can understand Dragonese...the language of dragons...how is this so...? And how do you and I share the same mark..?"** as the dragon spoke, both the crescent moon marks glowed with a soft blue light, pausing both the viking and dragon as they watched in wonder.

But it was cut short when a roar of a dragon was heard from her village and both of them looked at the village, day was breaking, the dragons were retreating and heading back to wherever they came from. The Night Fury snorted once before turning to the girl, studying her for a long moment before spreading her wings.

 **"You intrigue me...young human...we shall cross paths again..."** dragon spread her large wings and with a mighty sweep she launched herself into the air with a resounding roar. Cheryl let out a gasp, wasn't the Night Fury supposed to be the one dragon that absolutely won't leave you alive ever? She got to her feet quickly and watched as the midnight dragon headed away from the island.

"Wait! I don't even know your name!" the daughter of the chief called out. The Night Fury looked down at her once with glowing emerald eyes and let out a roar.

 **"I am Artemis! Night Fury of the Moon!"** she roared out before she sped off into the horizon into the rising sun with the other dragons, who let out their own cries as they flew away from SkyCrest, leaving the brunette confused to no end.

 _'I have survived a Night Fury encounter...'_ she thought before she looked at her village. In a slight daze, she grabbed her net-launcher and jogged back to her parents' sides, who she knew were no doubt worried about her well-being.

"Ah! There's the lass! Chief Asger! Your daughter is safe!" a viking closest to her as she entered the village bellowed out and her father turned to her as she approached.

"Praise Odin! You are safe! Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked worried and her mother looked over to her and gave her daughter a hug.

"Father, mother, please calm down, I am alright," Cheryl said cooly and smiled at them, giving them a 360 degree turn, to prove her point.

"You know how worried we get when you are off on your own, you're the future chieftess of the village, we couldn't bear if you died before fulfilling your destiny..." her mother said, brushing her hand through her daughter's hair gently.

"I know, I know...but I'm 14, mother, soon to be 15 on the next full moon, can't you trust me a little more?" she asked in a near exasperated tone for she had gone through this talk a lot of times.

"Just parental concern, little gem," the chief said, petting her affectionately. The young viking sighed but smiled at her parents.

"Figures."

"Now come on, we all have to get some sleep, you have Dragon Training after breakfast after all."

"Alright, papa."

The family of three headed back to their house, which was the largest in the village due to Asger being the leader of all the vikings. The brunette sighed a bit as she laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling as the night's events played back in her mind.

 _'I survived a Night Fury encounter...because of my birthmark...what are the odds of a dragon and human bearing the same mark? What does it even mean? I can understand Dragonese...? The language of dragons? This all doesn't make any sense at all...'_

She turned over in her bed and closed her eyes, she would deal with those questions later, right now she needed to sleep. She has a long day at dragon training tomorrow...

 _'Artemis huh...? That's a pretty name...'_ she thought before her mind went into the land of dreams in slumber.


	2. We Meet Again

Cheryl awoke when she heard the horn and groaned slightly, mind still hazy with sleep as she turned over and fell off the bed.  
She grunted, sitting up and rubbed the back of her head before standing and dusted herself off. Once she felt she was presentable, she walked down towards the dining room in her home.

"Morning," she greeted in between yawns as she sat down at the table, rubbing her eyes groggily.

"Good, you're up. Now eat, you have training," Diana said, setting a plate of breakfast down in front of her daughter.

"Where's papa?" Cheryl asked, eating her breakfast and looked at her mother.

"The usual, out helping with the rebuilding of the houses damaged during the dragon raid, a chief always has to think of the people," her mother replied. The young girl sighed, nodding. She knew she would become chieftess one day, but she'd rather not grow up just yet…

She finished up her food and kept the dish away before bidding her mother a good day and left the house to head to the arena where the other young vikings would be trained to fight against the dragons that would raid their island.

The trainer was a large, burly man with a long, bushy, orange beard, dark eyes and around his belt was an axe and scars ran along his arms, no doubt from dragons. His name was Armstrong.

"Alright recruits! Today, the dragon you will be facing will be the Deadly Nadder, now, grab your shields and get ready to fight!" he bellowed, as most vikings usually did and all the viking kids rushed to grab a good shield to deflect against the spikes and the fire of the dragon as they entered the maze to deal with it.

There was an equal amount of male and female in the class, five boys and girls, the nine others were from families close in rank of chief, and because of that, Cheryl knew that she would no doubt be pressured to pick from those 5 boys in her class, though she had to admit they were kinda cute, that was as far as the attraction went because their personalities weren't always the then again, she couldn't have everything now could she…?

She sighed before Armstrong released the Deadly Nadder into the maze and she bolted behind the walls as agile as a hare, dodging and running quickly, maneuvering around the Nadder and stayed in its blind spot. The others followed in suit and they all surrounded the Nadder before they all launched their nets at it, shooting two at the tail so the dragon wouldn't be able to launch its poisonous spikes at them.

 **"Grrr...I'm going to get you humans one day!"** it growled at them and the Dragonheart girl had a double take. She pinched herself, she was dreaming right? Did she hear a dragon talk again?!

But apparently not, because she could hear the Nadder mutter curses at them. She felt bad and when Armstrong and the other students weren't looking, she petted its muzzle gently.

The Nadder stared at her surprise as the viking girl touched his muzzle. No human had ever dared to come this close to not kill it or trap it somehow.

"I am sorry, Nadder, but I don't think vikings and dragons will get along for a while...I'm sorry you have to be forced to be captured again over and over..." Cheryl apologized, looking at the dragon.

 **"You're a strange human..."** he growled.

"So I have been told."

The Nadder looked at her surprised once more. This...human...had understood him? How?

 **"You understand me?"**

"I've found out that I am capable of that yes."

He made a grunt, grumbling something that she couldn't quite understand till he looked at her.

 **"I suppose it is a comfort somehow...to have a human understand me..."**

"May I enquire your name?"

 **"Skystriker..."**

"A pleasure. I am Cheryl."

The brunette then heard her name being called and she looked over her shoulder to see the trainer calling her over.

"I'll speak to you tomorrow, Skystriker."She petted his muzzle once more and then left.

"Excellent job as always, recruits," Armstrong said, the other nine nodding while the Dragonheart girl simply shrugged. She knew she was good at training but her heart was not in it.

She would never be able to speak it out loud, but dragons fascinated her. Intrigued her. She didn't see how bloodshed would end bloodshed, it would only create more. She wanted to understand dragons, learn more about them, but that would be forbidden by vikings everywhere.

She then left for the forest, which was like her second home. She knew the whole forest like the back of her hand and knew all the paths and routes. She approached and hummed a soft little tune, smiling as she heard the birds sing and she saw a couple of deer grazing nearby.

But there was one little place that she absolutely loved the most. She stepped in front of a curtain of willows and brushed it aside to reveal a door that she had made herself that blended in so well that no one would be able to tell that it was there. Grasping the door handle, it was pushed open and shut behind as it revealed a little cove of sorts.

It had trees, flowers and a lake with all sorts of fruit and animals there as well. This was her little hideaway, her little utopia where she can escape from the village for a little while.

She shut the door quietly behind her and sat down by a large tree, laying down with her hands behind her head, looking at the sky through the little gaps between the green leaves, sunlight filtering in. The sounds of birds making their songs of the day, a gentle breeze drifting and made the leaves rustle in soft little whispers as if the forest was talking.

She smiled, it was so peaceful here and she could relax and enjoy herself. Cheryl's eyes closed and she let out a sigh of content, staying like this for a while.

Then the sunlight got cut off and she frowned, her dark brown orbs fluttering open only to meet emerald green eyes and she nearly did a double take. It was the same Night Fury from last night! And she was on top of her!

"Oh...hello Artemis..." she greeted quietly, not wanting to anger the dragon unless she wanted to be burnt to a crisp.

 **"Hmph...hello, human. You are surprisingly hard to track down,"** the dragon grumbled.

"I do have a name you know," the brunette huffed quietly, "also, could you be so kind to get off me? Please?"

 **"At least you're polite about it..."** Artemis snorted, moving off but was still tensed up as Cheryl sat up, dusting herself off.

"May I have the pleasure of knowing why you're not killing me?"

 **"I believe I've told you. You intrigue me. No human can understand us dragons, no matter how many times we try to speak to them. Plus, you share the same mark as I do."**

"Go figure."

 **"What about you? Why aren't you killing me?"** Emerald eyes blinked questioningly at her. Cheryl sighed quietly.

"I don't kill dragons. I don't like the feud between our species, all the bloodshed. It is not your fault you do such things to survive...I want to understand dragons but unfortunately I cannot because that would be taboo everywhere to Vikings..." she explained before sighing. "Especially when I myself am the chief's daughter." Artemis cocked her head, her ears raising slightly in interest.

 **"So you're the daughter of the leader of the Vikings on SkyCrest then? I knew you had to be of some interesting background in order to even dare try and face me,"** she crooned.

"Being the chief's daughter is no fun and games. It means everyone has expectations of me and when I grow up, I'll be expected to run the village and choose a husband to be chief. And as much as I love my parents, I'd prefer if they continued to hold that job," Cheryl sighed.

 **"I suppose I can understand what it is like. Responsibility is a huge thing. Not something to be taken lightly."** Cheryl nodded her head before she bit her lip in nervousness.

"Um...Artemis…? Is it ok if I...touch you?" she asked softly. The Night Fury tilted her head to the side and blinked before she pressed her ears back and bared her teeth.

 **"And why should I?"**

"I just...I just want to...besides...if you don't like it...I'll stop and not do it again unless you say it's ok." The female dragon pondered over this, her ears flicking back and forth before she conceded.

 **"Fine. I suppose I could."**

The brunette Viking nodded and then brought her hand slowly up to Artemis's snout and placed it there. When the dragon made no signs of discomfort, she moved her other hand to gently scratch her ear.

The dragon then began purring, tilting her head to show appreciation. The young girl chuckled and moved to scratch both her ears, which increased the purring tenfold.

 **"Oh that feels nice…"**

"I can tell," Cheryl chuckled before she took a look up at the sky. "Oh…I should be heading back soon." Her hands stilled in the midnight dragon blinked and tilted her head, making a sound of questioning.

 **"Oh...well...I see then…"**

"I'll come back again tomorrow, Artemis…" Cheryl said gently and was surprised when she was nuzzled gently on the cheek by Artemis.

 **"You'd better. Or I'll hunt you down myself."**

Cheryl smiled and nodded before she got up and gave the dragon one last minute of scratching before she walked out of the cove and headed back home.

For the next few weeks, Cheryl continued to go back to the cove to see Artemis, talking with her and scratching her ears. Artemis even began teaching her how to speak Dragonese and soon, the viking female was starting to become fluent in it.

One day, on another visit, Artemis made a surprising request.

"You want me to what?" Cheryl questioned.

 **"I want you to get on my back. I want to show you something."**

"But I'll fall off. I don't have anything to keep me on you."

 **"Don't worry. I'll make sure you won't fall off. And I'll even let you make a saddle. Sound fair?"**

"I suppose I could," she murmured and gingerly got onto Artemis's back and held on with her hands and feet. Once she was sure the human was on her properly, Artemis spread her wings and then took off, making the young brunette yelp as she tightened her hold.

They flew out of the cove and out to the forest, going higher till they were touching the clouds. Cheryl opened her eyes and then smiled, raising her hand to feel the coolness of the clouds.

"This is amazing, Artemis!" she exclaimed happily.

 **"Glad you like it."**

The Night Fury continued to fly for a while before she slowly began descending and landed by a beautiful waterfall. The young Viking gasped in awe as she slid off the dragon and looked at the sheer beauty of the place and smiled.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Artemis. It's beautiful."

Artemis growled in a pleased manner and sat down with the human, letting her lean against her as they both soaked in the beauty of the place.

Their marks then glowed a little, causing both human and dragon to blink and look at each other. Cheryl moved her shoulder to Artemis's and gasped as she felt a wave of warmth shoot through her.

"Woah…"

It was still strange to the both of them that they both had the same mark. There were so many questions, with very little answers.

They spent a bit more time together before the young viking had to head home and Artemis flew her back to the edge of the forest where her village was not far off.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she spoke and hugged the dragon, who smiled and licked her face gently.

 **"See you soon, Cheryl."**

The brunette smiled and watched as Artemis took off before she headed back to the village and went home, humming a tune as she jogged through, waving to a couple of vikings along the way.

She heard from the village elder that her parents were out at sea at the moment so she went to the armory and grabbed a couple of materials to fashion up a saddle for Artemis.

After a couple of hours, she finished and shoved it under her bed before she laid down on it and smiled. Tomorrow was a new day, and she could spend time together with Artemis in the morning.

 _'Good night, Artemis. Wherever you are.'_


	3. To Chase The Dawn

"That feel alright to you, Artemis?" Cheryl asked as she readjusted the saddle before pulling the straps snug. The dragon walked around a little, doing all sorts of maneuvers like jumping, twisting and rolling.

 **"Yes. I feel no sort of discomfort whatsoever. Thank you."**

"That's good. Good thing I brought my spare tools along. I was way off on your measurements and you would _not_ let me live it down." Artemis snorted.

 **"Well, it was your fault that you made it tight to the point where I accidentally breathed fire on you."**

"That was one time!" she exclaimed, pouting childishly. Artemis snickered.

 **"One time too much."**

"You jerk," she huffed angrily, keeping her tools away and kept them in her pouch. The dragon simply gave a sly look before she used her tail to sweep the girl off her feet.

"Artemis! What the hell?!" Cheryl yelled, running after the dragon.

 **"You're easy to tease. Your fuse is so short,"** the other laughed.

"If you know that then why the hell do you keep lighting my fuse?!" the human shrieked, continuing to chase after Artemis before she finally tackled the other.

"I got you now!" she yelled and tickled the living daylights out of her dragon friend, who was bursting out in laughter.

 **"Stop stop! I can't breathe!"** Artemis exclaimed through her laughter.

"Beg me for mercy!" the young girl said with a playful smile on her face as she continued to tickle her dragon partner.

 **"Mercy! Mercy!"** Artemis shrieked before the young brunette relented and stopped her tickle torture and the two just laid down side by side and stared at the sky.

 **"You're still easy to tease, stubborn pig."**

"Oh shut your mouth, crater face," Cheryl huffed and lightly shoved Artemis in the shoulder. The dragon laughed and they relaxed there together.

"You know...I wish we didn't have to hide this...have all these secrets...but...my people would kill you in an instant…" Artemis sighed and rolled over slightly to face her human friend.

 **"I know...but that's the way things are...unfortunately…"** The dragon spoke.

"I'm scared...Arte…" Cheryl murmured.

 **"About what?"**

"About being the new chieftess of my people...about living up to my parents' expectations...I act all carefree and nonchalant and happy...but...really...I'm scared and I wanna hide all the time. I get so much attention from being the daughter of the chief...and if I screw up it looks bad on my parents...and people will think badly of me...I'm just…" the brunette bit her lip, "insecure about everything…"

Artemis looked at the young human before her, her ears drooping slightly as her friend talked about her insecurities. She never saw this side of her up til that point. It had been months now, ever since they became friends and she has always known Cheryl as some sort of happy person who had a short temper and was clumsy and indignant when things didn't turn out the way there were supposed to. The Cheryl she would laugh and joke around with and go on adventures with. Not the one she was looking at right now.

Her eyes softened and she wrapped her wing around the girl's body, pulling her close.

 **"Hey...it's ok. Don't worry about things like that for now...We dragons have flaws too. We sometimes do things for our own benefit, especially if we're desperate. Most...dragons have an allegiance of sorts...like a colony. And that colony is usually ruled by a queen. And we're supposed to feed this queen. That's why we raid villages. We need to feed her or she'll eat us. And we do as she says because we fear for our lives. What food we don't give to her, we spend fighting for even the barest of scraps because we're so hungry. We can go a while without food, but afterwards we get more desperate and feral. And we only attack if we feel like we're being threatened, like when a human points a sword or an axe or something at us. We're still hostile, either way, because our world isn't any easier,"** she spoke gently.

"I'm sorry you have to deal with that, Arte…" the young viking murmured.

"Hey, it's not your fault. Besides, you're different. I'm glad...that we got to be friends." Cheryl looked up and smiled.

"Me too, Arte." The dragon-human pair then cuddled there for a while, staring at the sky and pointing out random cloud shapes.

The peaceful atmosphere was then shattered by the piercing call of a war horn. Cheryl jolted up, her dark brown eyes wide with fear.

"Oh no…"

 **"What is it?!"**

"We're being attacked. And it's not dragons. It's marauders! I have to go!"

 **"Cheryl, are you insane? You'll get killed."**

"I have to. It's my people, my parents. Stay here. I'll call for you." Artemis looked at her, whining in worry but nodded.

 **"Ok...go."** The young girl nodded before she took off out of the woods and ran as fast as she could. She could see the glow of fire and smoke billowed and clawed its way into the sky with its dark, smokey hands as she got closer and closer.

She ran to the edge of the forest, her village in full view and she stopped, staring in horror. Flames consumed the island like a ravenous beast, swallowing up houses, people, animals...everything.

"No...NO!" she exclaimed, running into the village. She could see dead corpses, burnt alive or with blood everywhere. She had to find her parents. But where were they?!

"Mom?! Dad?! Where are you?!" she yelled desperately, her frantic gaze scanning through the flames and the echoing screams. Then she skidded to a stop, fear in her eyes as an armoured dragon dropped down and approached her, its mouth wide open, ready to breathe fire at her and incinerate her to death when a sword stabbed at the unprotected area between the armor plates, a boot kicking the dragon out of the way.

Arthur stepped into view and looked at his daughter.

"Cheryl! It isn't safe for you to be here!"

"But I was worried about you and mom!" she protested.

"Sweetheart...listen to me…" he said in a serious tone, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"We're being attacked by a man called Drago Bludvist. He will leave _no_ survivors. You _must_ leave and survive. You are the hope of our tribe."

"Dad, no I ca-" She started but he hushed her and removed his ring, placing it into her hands.

"Take this with you and keep it close to your heart. Your mother and I love you... Now go. GO!" he yelled, pushing her away as he blocked an attack, giving out a large war cry.

Tears blurred her vision as she obeyed, turning and ran away from the fight and the chaos. She ran to her home which was burning and grabbed her weapons and her shield and a satchel, taking one last glance before sprinting into the woods. She stopped and turned around, her eyes widening.

She saw from her position as a large man fought against her father, her mother firing arrows at the man to help. But he only deflected them and blocked every attack that her father gave.

The man waved a hand and an armored dragon dove down and swiped at her mother, who dodged, only to be stabbed through the chest. Arthur yelled in fury and attacked more viciously, the blades clashing and causing sparks.

But it was futile. Her father stumbled back, a hand to the gaping wound and he fell to his knees...and Drago decapitated him by cutting off his head.

"FATHER! MOTHER! NOOOO!" Cheryl screamed, sinking to her knees and sobbed. Fury began to rise within her, the urge to kill. She growled, standing up, ready to charge at the man and disregard her father's wish, but Artemis had seen the whole thing, arriving just in time to pull her away.

 **"Cheryl, we have to go. Now!"**

"NO! NOT UNTIL I KILL THAT FUCKING BASTARD!" she screamed, struggling against her dragon to no avail.

 **"IF YOU GET YOURSELF KILLED THEN YOUR PARENTS' EFFORTS TO SAVE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN IN VAIN. WE HAVE TO LEAVE!"**

Cheryl jerked, the words striking a chord within her and she nodded, getting on Artemis as the Night Fury took off away from the burning village.

The brunette sobbed into Artemis's back as she watched her village...her tribe...her parents...burn.

 _'Why…? Why save only her…? Why? Why did they have to die…? WHY? WHY? WHY?!'_

 **"I'm so sorry...Cheryl…"** Artemis spoke softly, looking over at her human companion, landing far away from the village and wrapped a wing around her. The last viking of the Dragonheart clan wept, crying out and sobbing, mourning the loss of what had been her entire world. Artemis just kept silent, nuzzling and licking her cheeks.

Cheryl was silent for a long time, her dark brown eyes staring blankly at the ground before she spoke.

"I'm gonna kill him...I'm gonna train and train and when I find Drago Bludvist again, I will destroy him like he did my home, my people, my family…" She stared at the ring that her father gave her, which had a blue crystal and was made out of silver. She slid it on her right ring finger and stood up, staring at the sky.

"I will avenge my family and rebuild my home but...I can't possibly do this without you Arte...you're...all I have left. So...will you help me…?"

Artemis nodded and stood beside her.

 **"Of course. And we'll chase the dawn that waits for us beyond the darkest skies…"** She murmured and Cheryl smiled slightly.

"Always."


End file.
